Page 107 of Isolated
I nodded. “I’m ready.”
The way this would all go down had played out in my head for days now. I’d worked here long enough to know how the company worked, where people would be, and assumed I’d have no delays on my way to Robert’s office.
But the moment we stepped inside and had turned the corner to head in that direction, I was caught off guard by the sight of Steph and Kasey. They seemed so happy, so unaffected. At least, they seemed that way until Kasey happened to glance in my direction. She squeezed Steph’s arm and jerked her chin in my direction. As Steph spun around, her lips parted in shock.
Landen sensed my dismay and stepped closer, the heat from his body so warm and reassuring. I could do this.
Taking several steps in their direction, I closed the distance between us. Landen stayed right on my heels.
“Iris,” Kasey breathed. It was like she’d had the wind knocked out of her.
Steph shifted her attention between Landen and me, ultimately settling her gaze on me. “What are you doing here?”
I pushed my shoulders back, tipped my chin a bit higher, and said, “I thought you were my friends.”
Kasey opened her mouth to speak, but I held my hand up to cut her off.
“Having that belief, you might recall me telling you about Landen, the guy from the gym.” I stepped to the side, pointed to him, and continued. “This is Landen. He’s not only my boyfriend, but he’s a private investigator. And he’s helped me get to the bottom of who betrayed me. Sabotaged me. He figured out who went out of their way to do everything possible to leave me feeling isolated from everyone I work with. And while it might not matter anymore, considering I’ve already lost my job, I’m here today to set the record straight with every stitch of evidence I have.”
Their faces blanched as their mouths fell open.
I reached for Landen’s hand and gave them one last look. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Sidestepping them, I continued toward Robert’s office. I knocked on the open door, and when he looked up, he was visibly uncomfortable. “Iris. You shouldn’t be here.”
“That’s the thing, Robert, Ishouldbe here. But I was fired. Wrongfully, I might add.”
His eyes darted to Landen, likely noticing a murderous expression on his face. “Do I need to call security?”
I shook my head. “That won’t be necessary. I’m not staying. I merely wanted to give you this.”
That was when his eyes dropped to the manila envelope that I’d carried in with me. I crossed the room and held it out to him.
“What is this?”
“It’s the evidence of what really happened,” I told him. “It’s the work you should have done before deciding to fire me. It’s the proof that even though you think you did the right thing to protect this company by letting me go, you still have someone working here who’s also working for the competition.”
The color drained from Robert’s face, his eyes bulging. He opened the envelope, pulled out everything inside, and flipped through all of it. I didn’t think he read every detail or inspected every photo as thoroughly as he might have wanted to, but he saw enough. He knew how badly he’d messed up, because the evidence was irrefutable.
“Iris… I… I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“No, you didn’t. And the worst part about it all is that you didn’t respect me, or any of the work I’ve done to bring success to this company over the years I worked here, enough to give me the benefit of the doubt.”
“I tried to,” he explained. “I wanted to, but at the advice of the others, I thought the way we went was necessary.”
“And look how badly you screwed up,” I countered. “It was easier to believe that the confident, headstrong woman was the one responsible for what happened with Horizon Solutions. Somewhere in your mind, you allowedyourself to believe that I worked so hard to achieve all that I did just to risk throwing it away. Not for one second did you suspect it was the unremarkable, unassuming software developer that would have ever been responsible. I can’t say I blame you. I didn’t expect Brett had it in him, either. But to think you believed I had it in me is downright hurtful and disturbing.”
Robert remained silent, the weight of his decision bearing down on him like a lead weight.
“I can see this is going to take a moment to sink in, and when it does, at least you’ll have the proof in hand to remind you of the mistake you made.”
“Iris, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I’d like to reinstate you, effective immediately.”
And there it was.
As quickly as I could snap my fingers, I could come back.
“I wondered if you might make that offer today,” I said. “And thinking it was a possibility, I took the time to consider what I would do if and when it came my way. But I’m going to ask you to put yourself in my shoes for a moment, Robert. Look back on all that I’ve been through for weeks now, the accusations about my lack of concern for my job and responsibilities. Think about how I attempted to defend myself over and over. And remind yourself that it was Brett who had the technical ability to keep my important emails about meeting time changes from getting to me. He had the technical ability to affect my calendar, so I missed deadlines. Think about the fact that every individual at this company believed the lies being spread. And finally, think about how you and Bryan and Howard decided it was best to keep me off theHorizon Solutions case, telling the rest of the staff not to trust me with something so critical to this company. By not doing your due diligence to uncover what was really happening and taking my concerns seriously all these weeks, you damaged my reputation with my colleagues. You destroyed friendships. And I’d be a fool to accept that kind of carelessness back into my life. So, I appreciate that you can see the error of your ways now. I can accept your apology, too. But I cannot return to working for a company who has leaders that could so easily and blindly turn their backs on me. I wish you all the best.”
